A mountain dulcimer historian who discovered the instrument while living in Greenwich Village in the 1960s and a 19-year-old dulcimer virtuoso who already has been crowned national champion and is widely recognized for her progressive playing style will be on the instructional staff for Dulcimer U Summer Week at Western Carolina University.

WCU’s 14th annual conference of mountain dulcimer classes, concerts and jam sessions will be held Sunday, July 14, through Friday, July 19.

Born in 1927 and now living in Reston, Va., Ralph Lee Smith is widely considered to be the foremost authority on dulcimer history. Smith taught himself to play the dulcimer during the folk revival of the 1960s, and in the 1970s.

Sarah Morgan of Sharp’s Chapel, Tenn., recently graduated from high school, but she already has made a name for herself in folk music, earning the national champion title at the National Mountain Dulcimer Championships in Winfield, Kan., in 2012.

In addition to Morgan, this year’s Dulcimer U will feature four more dulcimer players who have earned the title “national champion.”

The Naturalist's Corner

Friends and followers of “The Naturalist’s Corner” know I’m keeping a year-list of birds I see/hear this year. As I wrote in an earlier column, “I was just curious about how many different species of birds I normally run into throughout the year.” And I have a great core of birding activities that provide a good nucleus for a list including Christmas Bird Count, George Ellison’s Great Smoky Mountains Birding Expedition, my annual point count contract with the Forest Service and other opportunities such as leading a trip for the Franklin Bird Club, generally leading birding trips during the annual Wildflower Pilgrimage (which, regrettably, I missed this year due to a scheduling conflict with spring break) and an annual summer trip to Isle of Palms. The Isle of Palms trip is the one I was counting on for a list boost.